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Land Grabbing

Land ministry moves against land-grabbing by Hallmark (11 September 2012): The land ministry on Monday initiated a move to look into how much government land was grabbed by the Hallmark Group in Savar and whether or not all the plots shown as the company’s own property to Sonali Bank were actually owned by it, said officials. The ministry is expected to issue a letter to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka today (Tuesday), seeking a detailed report with documents of Hallmark’s land properties located at Hemayetpur in Savar — around 25 kilometres distant from Dhaka city — because of allegations that the company had grabbed both government and private lands and shown them as its own property by fabricating fake documents, according to officials. It has been reported that the company had claimed around 1,000 acres of land as its own property although the area includes khas (government owned) lands and individuals’ plots.